Florence Mabel Gooding

Florence Mabel Gooding was attacked in her home on 1 or 2 August 1959 and later died in hospital on 5 August 1959.

It was thought that she had been attacked between 6.30pm on Saturday 1 August 1959 and 6.30pm on Sunday 2 August 1959. However, following her post mortem it was stated that the time of her murder might well have been late Sunday or early on the Monday, 3 August 1959.

The pathologist said that she died as the result of a lacerated brain and a fractured skull. He said that the main injury was 'a blunt impact injury' to the left side of her forehead and that Florence Gooding had died as a direct result of that blow. The wound had been four inches long and two inches wide.

It was noted that only one bedroom had been searched and that it was thought that an intruder had either disturbed  Florence Gooding or been disturbed by her and had then after striking her about the head with a blunt instrument then taken fright and made off.

One report stated that it was thought that the murder weapon had been a sledge hammer. The murder weapon had been described as a broad blunt instrument and the police said that they were also looking at a number of heavy Victorian antiques that she had had in her home that might have been used. Another report stated that the police were looking at a sledgehammer that had been found in a garden shed at Oast Hatch, but added that it was fairly clean and that they were tending to ignore it as well as a heavy candlestick that was found in her house. The pathologist said that he thought that the murder weapon might have been a bar or rod or something of that nature.

The murder weapon was not found and scores of police were reported to have searched through the long grass and thick hedges in the immediate vicinity looking for it. When the police were asked about the murder weapon at the inquest they reported that it had not been found.

Her daughter, who lived in Rockfield Road, Oxted, said that she last saw Florence Gooding between 6pm and 6.30pm on the Saturday and that on the Tuesday evening, 4 August 1959, after the son of Florence Gooding's gardener came to see her to see whether Florence Gooding was there and that she then went to Florence Gooding's home at about 9pm and found her there injured on her bloodstained bed.

There were bloodstains on her pillows, on the bed and on her nightdress which was lying on the floor.

It was noted that Florence Gooding's gold bracelet was found to have been missing from her property following her murder.

The police said that some of Florence Gooding's drawers had been ransacked and a table knocked over.

Florence Gooding was then taken to Wimbledon Hospital but died the next day on Wednesday 5 August 1959.

The police said that they thought that one man had been responsible for her murder and that they believed that he lived locally. They said that there had been at least 12 burglaries in the Oxted area in the previous three years and said that they were looking for a burglar that had been titled the 'country house creeper' who was thought to be responsible.

The police said that all twelve burglaries had been entered by the same method whereby entry had been made through a ground floor window after putty had been scraped away and the window latch then released. It was also heard that the pane at Oast Hatch had been broken and a gap caused that was sufficient to have put a hand through.

The police were reported as having taken scores of fingerprints from the property and that they were comparing the prints with those taken from many of the previous 12 burglaries in the district. It was reported that if the police found a match with the 'phantom’s'  fingerprints from the murder scene that they would still not know the name the murderer but that they would then likely ask every male over 16-years-old in Oxted to have their fingerprints taken.

The police said that they thought that the murder had been carried out by a local man.

It was noted that the 'phantom' had always chosen to raid the bigger houses in the district, houses like Florence Gooding's.

The police also said that they were also speaking to the Metropolitan Police about intruders known to use violence.

Florence Gooding had lived in the eight roomed gabled property alone and was a widow. Her husband had been a solicitor and had died 18 months earlier.

Oast House was described as standing in its own grounds.

It was reported that although local gossip had it that Florence Gooding kept a large sum of money at her home, that it was established that she never withdrew more than £10 a week from the bank.

Florence Gooding's inquest concluded on Tuesday 13 October 1959 with a verdict of murder by a person or persons unknown returned.

The police said that they had visited over 2,000 in a mile and a half radius during their investigation. They said, 'The inquiries have enabled us to clear up many old crimes in the district which have resulted in the arrest of six persons. Some crimes solved dated back as far as 1949, but we have not succeeded in getting any nearer a solution in this offence. It would appear that this started off as an ordinary house-breaking. There have been sixteen quite similar offences within a radius of half-a-mile of Oast Road and four houses in the same road have been broken into in the last two years. That has led us to believe that maybe the person who committed this murder is the person who had committed at least some of these offences'.

The police also said, 'In all probability, the person who committed this murder is a person who has committed at least some of the 16 offences in the district. Local people have been most helpful and tolerant, but we still feel that someone could help us by giving us some information they probably have as to who has been committing at least some of these local crimes. If we could find that person then we stand a very good chance of being able to clear this case up'.

When the Coroner asked whether the police believed that the person or persons responsible were local, the police said, 'We feel that. We can't be sure, but we feel we could still get help from local persons'.

It was later said that a suspect who was thought to have lived in Hurst Green had murdered her on his way home but that he had died before he could be interviewed.

On Thursday 6 August 1959 it was reported that the police had switched their door-to-door inquiries to a council estate in Hurst Green. The council estate was described as having 500 houses and to have been about half-a-mile from Oast House.

It was later noted that during the examination of the crime scene that several of the men that had been brought in to carry out the examination of the local area had been allowed to use the kitchen in Oast Hatch, being told that it had been cleared, and that they were getting water from the tap, it being a hot day, and that someone got a bottle of squash which most of the men used to add to their water.  However, it was heard that the bottle of squash had come from the larder and that it had not as yet been tested for fingerprints and that when it later was tested that all the people at the production line at the factory in Kent where the bottle had come from had their fingerprints tested to eliminate them from those later found on the quash bottle and it was not for some time that it was determined that the prints were those of the men that had been in the kitchen getting refreshments. 

It was also noted that he men that had been carrying out the search for clues about the property were trainees brought in by HQ to assist but that in the newspapers they had been described as '"A specially trained squad of Surrey CID men search the grounds for the murder weapon', or words to that effect. There had been about 12 men that had been called in to assist with the search.